| Rugby league in Wales | |
|---|---|
| Country | Wales |
| Governing body | Wales Rugby League Rugby Football League[a] |
| National team | Wales |
| First played | 1907 |
| National competitions | |
| Club competitions | |
Rugby league is a sport played inWales. The governing body of the game in Wales is theWales Rugby League.
There is a long but sporadic history ofrugby league in Wales (Welsh:rygbi'r gynghrair). Over the decades hundreds of Welsh players have played for the leadingEnglish clubs. Consequently, the national side, nicknamed the Dragons, have often been a very strong force in the international game.
Rugby football was an increasingly popular sport for Wales in the 1890s, and particularly in thesouth where its popularity surpassed that ofassociation football. The Welshcoal miners shared the sameworking class ethos of the miners from the northern counties ofEngland. The impendingschism of 1895 tore apart the English rugby union and in the early 1900s, the shock waves were being felt in rugby worldwide,[citation needed] though there was little desire in Wales to embrace professionalism. Amateurism in Wales was seen as a means of holding together a community in which there were expectations by the public on their sportsman to not turn their back on international rugby.[2] The Welsh took pride in the position rugby gave them in the sporting world, and therefore theWelsh Rugby Union saw little attraction in turning professional.
Nonetheless, many Welsh players signed for English clubs. TheNorthern Union's administrators began to ponder the possibilities of international competitions against an English representative side. The first attempt met with a lack of public interest, and the first scheduled Northern Union international, also became the first postponed Northern Union international, rescheduled for the 5 April 1904 atCentral Park,Wigan. Consisted of Welsh andScottish players, the team opposingEngland was labelledOther Nationalities and proved too strong, winning 9–3.[3] The fixture took place again in 1905, England winning 26–11 on 2 January atPark Avenue,Bradford,[4] before a 3–3 draw when the fixture returned to Wigan on 1 January 1906.[5]
In 1907,New Zealandtoured England and Wales[6] in what became the first set of international games played under Northern Union rules, and featured the first appearance of what became theWales national rugby league team, a 9–8 victory over New Zealand.[7]
In 1907,Ebbw Vale RLFC andMerthyr Tydfil RLFC joined the Northern Union, competing in theChallenge Cup and playing against the touring New Zealand team.[8]
In the1908-09 season, a six-teamWelsh League ran alongside the Northern Union'sYorkshire and Lancashire Leagues. ThetouringAustralian Kangaroos lost 14–13 to a league representative team atMerthyr Tydfil on 16 January 1909,[9] and defeatedAberdare RLFC, Merthyr Tydfil,Mid-Rhondda RLFC, andTreherbert RLFC in touring fixtures.[10] Ebbw Vale were the sole Welsh club for1911–12, resigning at the end of that season.
From 1949 to 1955 a Welsh league was run by the Welsh commission but it was disbanded due to lack of interest and finance. Founder members were Neath, Cardiff, Llanelli, Bridgend, Ystradgynlais, Aberavon, Amman Vale and Blaina.
Harsh economic times in the 1980s meant that rugby union players such asJonathan Davies andScott Gibbs "went north" to play professional rugby league in order to earn a living. This flow of players was halted when rugby union became professional in 1995.
In the early 21st century rugby league gained in popularity in Wales,[11] with matches between teams in the Welsh Premier division generally drawing crowds of around 300 spectators.
With the growth of theRugby League Conference throughout England, the RFL and its WRL arm set up an amateur club, theCardiff Demons who joined the Central South Division of theRugby League Conference in 2001. The Demons, who were mainly made up of former players from the universityUWIC rugby league club, were quite successful and instantly saw interest from other parts of Wales grow.
In 2002, two former students ofSwansea University decided to set up a local club called the Swansea Bulls, now Swansea Valley Miners (Neville Price), with a view to playing friendly matches against the Demons and other touring clubs. Peter Thomas and Gareth Jones, both former Welsh student internationals, started an amateur team out of the Morriston RFC ground with a mixture of university and local union players. Junior teams soon started playing league and one team, coached by Neville Price, was coached by theBradford Bulls team coaches on a weekend tour.
The following year in 2003, the RLC expanded, creating the Welsh Premier Division (now theSouth Wales Premiership). The inaugural competition had six open-age sides.
The record attendance for any rugby league game in Wales was set in 2005, with 74,213 attending theChallenge Cup final at theMillennium Stadium, Cardiff.
TheRugby Football League (RFL) took an entire round ofSuper League matches to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff in May 2007. This was calledMillennium Magic.
Celtic Crusaders, based at Brewery Field, Bridgend, joinedSuper League in2009. A second Welsh team then joined the RFL professional leagues in 2010,South Wales Scorpions, playing atThe Gnoll inNeath. Crusaders were liquidated after finishing bottom in2011, replaced at the same ground byNorth Wales Crusaders, and relegated toRFL League One.
In 2012 theNorth Wales Conference was formed.
South Wales moved toLlanelli become theWest Wales Raiders in2018 League 1 season. West West Wales withdrew from the league after 2022, leaving the Crusaders as Wales' sole professional rugby league team, now based atEirias Stadium,Colwyn Bay.
In recent years, due to the increase in popularity of league in Wales, there have been efforts to present theSouth Wales Premiership andNorth Wales Conference as first tier competitions within Wales and not just a fifth tier UK league. As of 2023, winners of both sides will play in the first all Welsh grand final for a place in the Challenge Cup, previously only available to South Welsh teams.[12][13]
In 1907, the Welsh Northern Union was formed inWrexham, but theRugby Football League refused affiliation as they wanted the body located inSouth Wales, and the WNU soon folded.
In 1926, the newly renamed Rugby Football League formed a Welsh commission in an attempt to convert rugby union clubs to rugby league, but only succeeded in creating a single new club,Pontypridd.
TheWales Rugby League was formed in 1995 and recognised at that time as the governing body of rugby league in Wales by the Rugby Football League, theBritish Amateur Rugby League Association and theWelsh Sports Association.Wales Rugby League achieved governing body status in 2005 and employed its first professional chairman,Mark Rowley, in 2006.
Wales became the 12th full member of theRugby League International Federation following a meeting of the Federation board in Melbourne in May 2010.
There have been various attempts to introduce professional rugby league to Wales throughout the 20th century.Merthyr Tydfil andEbbw Vale joined for the1907–08 season; followed closely behindAberdare,Barry,Mid-Rhondda andTreherbert a year later. The1908–09 season saw the six clubs grouped into the firstWelsh League, played alongside the Northern Union League. Aberdare, Barry and Mid-Rhondda all lasted a single season, and Treherbert's resignation after the1909–10 season season signalled the end of the Welsh League. Merthyr Tydfil resigned from the NRFU after the1910–11 season, with Ebbw Vale, the sole remaining Welsh club, resigning after the1911–12 season.
The next Welsh club wasPontypridd, who joined in1926; only to drop out after early thefollowing season.Cardiff RLFC participated in1951–52, but disbanded after that season.
Following the example ofFulham FC (who founded the RL team that is nowLondon Broncos),Cardiff City FC entered a team in1981. TheBlue Dragons sharedNinian Park with the Bluebirds until 1984, when the club went into liquidation after three successive mid-table finishes in thesecond division. The club moved toBrewery Field,Bridgend for the1984–85 season, finishing bottom, and were expelled before the start of the next season for failing to obtain a home ground.
South Wales finished sixth in theSecond Division in their sole season in thethird division in 1996.
Celtic Crusaders joinedsecond division in 2006 based at Brewery Field, Bridgend. After winning the division in 2007, the club were admitted toSuper League in2009. After finishing bottom in a competition where relegation was removed, Crusaders moved to theRacecourse Ground,Wrexham. A second Welsh team then joined the RFL professional leagues in 2010,South Wales Scorpions, playing atThe Gnoll inNeath. both Welsh clubs made their respective league's playoffs in 2010, and both were eliminated in the opening round. Crusaders were liquidated after finishing bottom in2011, replaced at the same ground byNorth Wales Crusaders, and relegated toRFL League One. The new Crusaders club won the division and promotion in2013, but were relegated the following year due to a division restructure. South Wales were renamed the Ironmen in2017, and moved toLlanelli to become theWest Wales Raiders in2018 League 1 season. West Wales withdrew from the league after the2022 League 1 season, winning only two matches since their rebranding, and leaving the Crusaders as Wales' sole professional rugby league team. Crusaders currently play home matches atEirias Stadium inColwyn Bay.
The following is a list of current Welsh rugby league clubs along with the league they play in:
Club rugby league in Wales is played in a fullBritish league system operated by theRugby Football League. TheSouth Wales Conference andNorth Wales Conference are the highest tier exclusive Welsh division of the league system and are currently 5th tier in theleague pyramid. Wales currently has one professional club which competes in the RFL,North Wales Crusaders.
Wales's junior competition is the Welsh Conference Junior League. In 2011 there was a North Wales Under 12 league. In theConference Youth League there were two Welsh sides: North Wales Crusaders and CPC Bears.
.jpg)
Wales participated in the first ever rugby league international, defeating New Zealand 9–8 atAthletic Ground,Aberdare on 1 January 1908 in front of 15,000 spectators, the winning try scored by formerWales rugby union internationalDai Jones.[14]
The national side, nicknamed theDragons, have often been one of the stronger sides in international rugby league and have also provided a number of players for theGreat Britain team. The two great eras of Welsh Rugby League coincide with the playing careers ofJim Sullivan and Jonathan Davies. They compete in theRugby League European Nations Cup and theRugby League World Cup.
TheWales Dragonhearts team is selected from domestic Welsh players, and won theRugby League Amateur Four Nations eight times between 2002 and the final tournament in 2013.
Wales also play in regular international tournaments at under 19, under 15 and student level.
BBC Sport own the rights to broadcast a highlights package called theSuper League Show which was first broadcast in Wales in 2008. Prior to this it had only been broadcast in the North of England.[15]Rugby League Raw is not broadcast in Wales despite the BBC owning the rights to do so. The BBC covers the Rugby LeagueChallenge Cup from the rounds in which the top clubs enter.
Highlights ofCrusaders games were shown on the rugby union programme ScrumV and their home games can be seen on Y Clwb Rygbi 13 onS4C. The BBC covers the Rugby LeagueChallenge Cup from the rounds in which the top clubs enter.
BBC Radio 5 Live andBBC Radio 5 Sports Extra carry commentary from a selection of Super League matches each week.GTFM carries a weekly rugby league spot throughout the season on their Saturday afternoon "The Season Ticket" show.
LiveSuper League andNational Rugby League games are shown onSky Sports Arena with highlights also being shown on the channel.[16][17] From the 2022 season, 10 liveSuper League games per season will be shown onChannel 4, the first time the league will be shown on terrestrial television.[18]Championship games are shown onPremier Sports, with one game a week being aird.[19]
